In many industries that produce products on a large scale, manufacturing systems include pull and push processes, typically within individual make-to-order and assemble-to-order systems. Typically, within large scale manufacturing systems, orders for products are pushed to an assemble-to-order system, which assembles the products from the components that make up the products. Prior to assembling the product, however, the components must be manufactured, such as in a make-to-order system, either by the manufacturer of the product and/or one or more third party suppliers of various components of the product. In an ideal setting, then, the components of the products are manufactured “just-in-time” to be pulled into an assembly facility where the components are assembled together to form the product in response to receipt of an order for the product. In reality, however, many factors within the manufacturing that disrupt the manufacture of the components and/or the assembly of the products and, therefore, create inefficiencies in the overall manufacturing systems.
Because of the factors that create inefficiencies in large scale manufacturing systems, many manufacturers research and develop contemplated manufacturing systems prior to implementing the systems. In this regard, contemplated manufacturing systems are modeled and operated under simulated conditions to measure the efficiency of the system. By measuring the efficiency of the system, then, manufacturers can adjust system parameters in an attempt to improve the efficiency of the system. In many conventional modeling techniques, just as in many conventional manufacturing systems, one or more orders are generated in a particular sequence and, from those order(s), an assembly schedule is produced. And from the assembly schedule, a production schedule for producing the components is generated, typically in the same sequence as the assembly schedule. In modeling systems, then, the operation of the contemplated manufacturing system is simulated from the assembly schedule and the production schedule to determine how efficiently the manufacturing system can assemble the final product from assembled components.
In increasing the efficiency of manufacturing systems, many modeling techniques and conventional manufacturing systems developed from such modeling techniques are based upon the most efficient process of producing individual components and products assembled from the components, independent of one another. In this regard, on a component level, many conventional manufacturing systems and modeling techniques seek to produce as many components as possible at the same time. And on a product level, many conventional manufacturing systems and modeling techniques seek to find the most efficient method by which a product can be assembled at a particular location designated for the assembly of that product.
Whereas many manufacturing systems and techniques for modeling manufacturing systems are adequate, such systems and techniques also have drawbacks, many of which stem from a lack of interaction between the assembly of products and the production of the components that are thereafter assembled into the products. In this regard, in generating a production schedule for components in the same sequence as the assembly schedule for components, conventional manufacturing systems and modeling techniques ignore the fact that not all components of products have the same production, or manufacturing time. For example, in the aircraft industry, not all components across the different models of aircraft have the same lead time requirement. One or more components from subsequent orders may require longer production times than an original order. As such, inefficiencies result in scheduling the production of components from the original order prior to scheduling the production of components from subsequent orders, where the components from the subsequent orders require longer production times.
Also, as many typical modeling techniques seek to increase the efficiency of a manufacturing system by producing as many of a given component as possible at the same time, assembly requirements are ignored. In this regard, by producing as many of component “x” as possible, such modeling techniques discount the fact that orders for products requiring component “x” might not require the largest number of component “x” be produced at the same time. Further, on a product level, as many conventional modeling techniques base the efficiency of assembling products on assembling the products at a particular location, or assembly facility, designated for the assembly of that product, such modeling techniques inefficiently utilize the assembly facilities. For example, similar processes can often be performed for different products at a single location by a single assembly team.